The 60-day review of the government’s cybersecurity plans that President Barack Obama ordered earlier this month is expected to generate an overarching strategic framework to determine how best the government can assure the security of cyber space. The goal is to assess existing strengths and weaknesses and develop plans that cross agency boundaries and coordinate with Congress and the private sector.
Leading the review is Melissa Hathaway, who has been senior adviser and cyber coordination executive to the Director of National Intelligence and has played a leading role in coordinating the government’s Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative.
The role of the CNCI, which the Bush administration created, is one of the primary questions for the Obama administration. In December, the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency recommended that Obama create a new cybersecurity directorate in the National Security Council and establish a new White House office to manage cybersecurity. The Obama administration has announced plans to appoint a cyber adviser who reports directly to the president.
Amit Yoran, one of the cybersecurity experts who served on the CSIS panel, applauded the 60-day review, which he said would contribute to effective policy-making. He said it shows that the administration gives cybersecurity a high priority.
Yoran, a former director of the Homeland Security Department’s National Cyber Security Division and current chief executive of the network-monitoring firm NetWitness, said he does not expect Obama to abandon burgeoning projects that are showing promise. Among those begun by the Bush administration and well into the works are the Trusted Internet Connection initiative, in which agencies are working to reduce the number of gateways they have to the Internet, and the Homeland Security Department’s efforts to upgrade Einstein, it’s federal network-monitoring system.
The Obama administration has “the ability to stop this train in its tracks, [but] I don’t think that’s a probable occurrence,” Yoran said.
http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/02/23/Obama-cyber-review.aspx
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Obama Names Online Staff
The White House announced the core of President Barack Obama’s online team today by making several appointments.
As Federal Computer Week previously reported, Macon Phillips is the White House’s director of new media and Katie Stanton is director of citizen participation. Cammie Croft will join the team as deputy new media director and Jesse Lee as director of online programs, according to White House officials.
Phillips served as director of new media for the presidential transition team. He developed Change.gov and oversaw the transition team’s online communications, White House officials said. Before that, he served as deputy director of new media for Obama’s presidential campaign and managed the daily operations of the campaign’s online program.
Croft was the new media rapid response manager for the Obama campaign. She oversaw efforts to integrate new media and communications, including managing the Fight the Smears Web site, according to the White House.
Lee worked in the new media department for the transition team doing online outreach and handled online communications for the Democratic National Committee during election season, White House officials said.
Before her White House appointment, Stanton worked at Google, where she was part of the team responsible for OpenSocial, Google Moderator and various election-related initiatives, officials said.
http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/02/23/Obama-names-online-staff.aspx
As Federal Computer Week previously reported, Macon Phillips is the White House’s director of new media and Katie Stanton is director of citizen participation. Cammie Croft will join the team as deputy new media director and Jesse Lee as director of online programs, according to White House officials.
Phillips served as director of new media for the presidential transition team. He developed Change.gov and oversaw the transition team’s online communications, White House officials said. Before that, he served as deputy director of new media for Obama’s presidential campaign and managed the daily operations of the campaign’s online program.
Croft was the new media rapid response manager for the Obama campaign. She oversaw efforts to integrate new media and communications, including managing the Fight the Smears Web site, according to the White House.
Lee worked in the new media department for the transition team doing online outreach and handled online communications for the Democratic National Committee during election season, White House officials said.
Before her White House appointment, Stanton worked at Google, where she was part of the team responsible for OpenSocial, Google Moderator and various election-related initiatives, officials said.
http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/02/23/Obama-names-online-staff.aspx
Navy To End 10-year Nework Outsourcing Deal
The Navy Marine Corps Intranet outsourcing contract comes to an end next year, and its pending expiration brings both relief and a looming unanswered question for the Navy.
Also in this report
CANES to consolidate shipboard networks
The relief comes because managing the critical and expensive system at arm’s length has been difficult, and the system's contractor has had a number of difficulties in meeting demand over the years. But while the Navy has sent clear signals that it will take a more active role in the ownership and hands-on management of NMCI’s successor, its not at all clear just how the Navy will accomplish that after the contract expires in September 2010.
Industry will still play a role in building and supporting the Next-Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), though perhaps not using the sole provider model. The Navy is exploring the idea of breaking down network operations into different functional parts.
Navy leaders expect that retaking control will give them enterprise network services that are more responsive to their evolving administrative and warfighter needs than was possible with NMCI. As beneficial as it is, doing so will test the Navy’s ability to manage multiple but interconnected technologies and contracts, observers say.
When the Navy awarded the $9.9 billion NMCI contract to EDS in 2000, it gave the company a mandate to supply IT services to 700,000 onshore users, mostly in the United States. The Navy governed the contract by measuring the company’s performance in delivering those services.
It was a hands-off approach, and EDS — now a division of Hewlett-Packard — shouldered the burden of consolidating a continent’s worth of disparate networks and unequal technology maturity levels into a centralized whole.
But as information assurance and the threat of cyber warfare become more prevalent concerns, the Navy’s NGEN program office is examining ways to improve the service’s control over its network. The Navy estimates it will have an acquisition strategy for NGEN no later than the early summer, and the service is still far from issuing implementation details.
http://fcw.com/articles/2009/02/23/navy-ngen-and-nmci-transition.aspx
Also in this report
CANES to consolidate shipboard networks
The relief comes because managing the critical and expensive system at arm’s length has been difficult, and the system's contractor has had a number of difficulties in meeting demand over the years. But while the Navy has sent clear signals that it will take a more active role in the ownership and hands-on management of NMCI’s successor, its not at all clear just how the Navy will accomplish that after the contract expires in September 2010.
Industry will still play a role in building and supporting the Next-Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), though perhaps not using the sole provider model. The Navy is exploring the idea of breaking down network operations into different functional parts.
Navy leaders expect that retaking control will give them enterprise network services that are more responsive to their evolving administrative and warfighter needs than was possible with NMCI. As beneficial as it is, doing so will test the Navy’s ability to manage multiple but interconnected technologies and contracts, observers say.
When the Navy awarded the $9.9 billion NMCI contract to EDS in 2000, it gave the company a mandate to supply IT services to 700,000 onshore users, mostly in the United States. The Navy governed the contract by measuring the company’s performance in delivering those services.
It was a hands-off approach, and EDS — now a division of Hewlett-Packard — shouldered the burden of consolidating a continent’s worth of disparate networks and unequal technology maturity levels into a centralized whole.
But as information assurance and the threat of cyber warfare become more prevalent concerns, the Navy’s NGEN program office is examining ways to improve the service’s control over its network. The Navy estimates it will have an acquisition strategy for NGEN no later than the early summer, and the service is still far from issuing implementation details.
http://fcw.com/articles/2009/02/23/navy-ngen-and-nmci-transition.aspx
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